Many geographic regions (including, for example, developing countries) suffer from intense electricity deficits. To manage such deficits, electricity suppliers commonly induce periods (for example, multiple hours) of power cuts per day. Commercial office buildings, by way of example, are particularly impacted by such power cuts, as office buildings routinely consume significant amounts of energy during normal operation. Many commercial office buildings faced with such power cuts utilize a backup power source such as a diesel generator (DG) and/or an inverter with a battery to power essential loads (such as lights and fans) during power cuts. However, DGs require periodic fuel refills and can generate fumes. Moreover, due to variability in local fuel prices, electricity generated by DGs can often be expensive. Compared to DGs, inverter backups do not require fuel and produce no fumes. However, inverter backups incur additional costs due to round-trip losses resulting from transitions from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) and back to AC, and due to the limited lifetimes of inverters and batteries.
Additionally, office buildings are also commonly exposed to differential electricity prices not only because of power cuts but also due to time-of-use (ToU) prices set by utilities and/or due to intermittent energy supplied by renewable sources. Accordingly, a need exists for inexpensive techniques for powering essential loads during high-cost hours in settings such as commercial office buildings.